At the Christchurch District Court on Thursday, Judge Stephen O'Driscoll sentenced Fei He, 48 and Sui Jon Zhou, 34, to 28 months and 26 months respectively for their role in Operation Sin.
The $4 million synthetic cannabis operation, which Judge O'Driscoll said was motivated by "greed and easy money" was run from the Sockburn Dairy on Main South Rd.
It was the second part of the sentencing, the first being held on Wednesday, where both the Crown and defence counsel read submissions.
It was adjourned to give Fei He the chance to have the Crown submissions and the pre-sentence report translated for her.
The third offender, Xiwen Miao, 30, today received a sentence of eight months home detention and 250 hours community work.
All three faced charges of selling a non-approved psychoactive substance and possession for supply. Zhou also faced a charge of the unlawful possession of a firearm and taser.
The trio previously pleaded guilty to the charges nine days into their six-week trial in June.
At Thursday's sentencing, Fei He spoke for 20min and made claims the charges against her were "made up" and accused police of corruption and blackmail.
She also continued to say she only sold herbal Chinese medicine.
In his final remarks, Judge O'Driscoll said he didn't accept her claims.
"You were the ring leader and principal offender in the network. I'm sorry to say that you are sadly wrong. You are in denial of this offending," he said.
"You have been caught out and you want to save face by denying your offending.
"People do not go around in cars selling Chinese herbal products in car parks and having other clandestine meetings.
"People selling Chinese herbal medicine do not arm themselves with firearms, that is consistent with drug dealing."
Judge O'Driscoll stated the drugs were found hidden in various places in the dairy, including in light sockets in the roof.
"If you honestly believed your products were legal, you would have not hidden them in that manner."
He said the offending showed a high degree of planning and premeditation and was at the "top end of the scale."
During a May 2016 raid for Operation Sin, which led to the trio’s arrest, police uncovered up to 173kg of synthetic drugs in total, the largest single haul by police ever.
Synthetic cannabis is essentially smokable plant material that has been spiced with a range of cannabinoids, including substances with names like 5F-ADB, AB-FUBINACA, AMB-FUBINACA and JWH-122.
In September, Coroner Debra Bell said synthetic cannabis toxicity had caused 24 people’s deaths since mid-2017.
Like cannabis, synthetic drugs target cannabinoid receptors in the brain but can be more toxic.
It was legal in New Zealand until it was banned in 2014.
